Performance analysis of induced draft cooling tower integrated with rotary silica gel mesh

A humid environment decreases the performance of induced draft counter flow cooling towers (IDCFCT) normally used in power plants and process industries. The primary objective of this study is to experimentally analyze the effect of using rotary silica gel mesh (RSGM) on the performance of IDCFCT. Experimental setups of IDCFCT with and without RSGM have been designed and fabricated to perform the comparative analysis. The performance of both cooling towers (CTs) in terms of output temperature, relative humidity of air, range, approach, and effectiveness at different air velocities has been investigated. The results indicate that the outlet air temperature of IDCFCT integrated with the RSGM wheel is 0.5–1.5°C higher than the IDCFCT without the RSGM wheel. IDCFCT with RSGM wheel shows maximum effectiveness of 0.67 at an air velocity of 1.5 m/s and inlet water temperature of 55°C; whereas, for IDCFCT without RSGM wheel, it is only 0.54. In terms of efficiency, RSGM wheel integrated IDCFCT shows an improvement of 24% compared to IDCFCT without RSGM wheel. It has been observed that RSGM-integrated IDCFCT also helps to save water up to 431.7 kg/h at an air velocity of 1 m/s with a water inlet temperature of 35°C. Moreover, the advantage of integrating the RSGM wheel with IDCFCT has been further corroborated in terms of the reduction in the height of the CT obtained with the help of a thermodynamic model.